Talk:Alli-Leo Relationship/@comment-3284502-20140202235909
Upon looking back, Leo's abuse doesn't seem to come out of nowhere anymore. I was pondering their summer episodes and found some clues about what Leo's really like. All I Wanna Do: the way he gets her phone back, by rushing at and forcefully taking it back. At first, it was easy to get swept up in the fact he's getting her phone back and Alli getting another love interest, but I couldn't shake something off. It jumped out at me that Leo was excessively violent in getting her phone back. At first I figured I'd been seeing things, but in light of other things, it suddenly doesn't seem so coincidental that he used, what seemed to me, to be excessive force. My Own Worst Enemy: Alli did need to ask him about the Louvre for her assignment, but she never indicated that she just wanted him to do her homework, but he still snapped at her and overreacted. At least, I thought he overreacted. Once again, in light of everything else, his seemingly normal, if strange, outburst doesn't seem so normal. About A Girl: He gets annoyed about Alli's friends being on their date. I would normally give him a pass on this one, since I'd be rather annoyed to plan a date with someone only for it to suddenly become a double date, but in context, it comes off like he doesn't want her to see her friends. Alli and her friends are pretty tight, so her support network is still there, but the fact an abusive boyfriend doesn't want her friends around gives off some unpleasent vibes. Cannonball: The date he brought for Jenna was a boundaries ignoring creeper. The fact Leo, who seemed so sparkly perfect, was friends with this guy confused me. Now it looks like a warning sign. I know it's wrong to judge someone solely by who their friends are (for instance, Anya was nothing like Holly J., personality wise), but if someone legitimately likes someone and thinks they're a good person/friend, then you can tell some things about them. And being friends with Andre does not give Leo a good impression. Honey: Well, besides the obvious jealousy and subsequent grabbing of the wrist, Leo completely and utterly flipped out when Alli was talking about going home. He insisted she was breaking up with him and thought he was stupid, but IIRC, Alli didn't give off that vibe. In fact, she was discussing the possibility of a long-distance relationship. That is the opposite of wanting to break up. Yet again, he gets excessively angry and starts overreacting. Yet again, he proceeds to act like the picture of the charming man later. Yet again, he reels her back in (until she gets a text). Going back and watching for red flags with Leo really is chilling, because in hindsight, it's easy to become unsettled by his behaviour, and moreso, how good he was at hiding it. Most of this stuff wouldn't mean much by itself, but putting it together and knowing what we know now, it becomes frightening. It's frightening because it was mostly relatively little things, and he acted normally otherwise. He hid the way he was so well that I certainly didn't see that smack coming, and I know a lot of others didn't either. Going back though, it becomes clearer that he was lurking beneath the ice. I've got to say, in any other context I'd be impressed with how well he blended in. I never saw it coming. Bravo, Degrassi. You certainly had me fooled.